The HAC Saga Continues

The saga of the ill fated Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whangarei is not over yet. The Whangarei District Council has rejected it and now commercial interests like the Whangarei Economic Development Group (with Barry Trass as Chairman) are trying to keep it going despite pessimistic comments from the Hundertwasser Foundation. 

More Tiny Monsters Found

This is serious stuff for anyone wanting to grow fruit in New Zealand. I live close by the area being searched after another male Queensland Fruit Fly was found in a bio-security trap in Whangarei. It probably came off a yacht, judging by its location and is the second one found in the same area. I am hoping that a breeding colony does not get established - mainly for the danger they pose for fruit growers, but also because an aerial and ground spray program might be needed over a large area to eradicate them. 

In that case I will have to leave until the spraying has finished because I have no intention to be put in danger from the inevitable side affects. Fingers crossed some cold weather will sweep in and put them off breeding. However, it is really nice and warm here right now and my fruit bowl hums with fruit flies if someone leaves the window open without the insect screen in place. I never thought I would pray for cold weather! 

Quilts and Patchwork Exhibition

The Whangarei Patchwork and Quilters Club held their "Quilts and More" exhibition at Forum North in Whangarei on the 28th to the 30th of March this year. If you missed this amazing collection of colourful craft art you can see more pictures at http://whangareiexhibitions.blogspot.co.nz/ or click on the link Whangarei Exhibitions just below the Whangarei News And Views banner title of this blog.

Phoney Consultation?

The Whangarei District Council has decided to conduct a phone poll asking Whangarei residents if they support WDC funding 8 million dollars of the total of 13 million dollar Hundertwasser Styled Gallery or not.

Home Alone Ain't So Bad

Billy did not get to the Northland Field Days this year and he expects  Sharlene's Mum to pop over with lip smackingly good treats to take his mind off missing out.

The Campaign Begins

Buskers Jam It Up At Market

Local buskers, Jimmy Kay and J T Taylor, provide rockingly good music at The Growers Market in Whangarei on Saturday mornings. These talented lads have customers and stall holders tapping their feet, bobbing their heads and filling the open guitar case with appreciation - see why by checking out this You Tube clip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qN2-D6BNzg

Northern Advocate's Tall Poppy Pinup Girl

A Freudian Slip?

Live At The Old Stone Butter Factory

                         

If you missed these talented young performers playing and singing on Friday the 20th of Sept. at The Old Stone Butter Factory café/bar, make sure you catch them next time - Amiria Grenell from Wellington and duo, Into The East from Southland. They were great value and deserve a decent cover charge next time. You can check out their music on Spotify and iTunes - buy it if you like alt/Country with Kiwi originality and heart stoppingly beautiful performances. Many thanks to their hosts for bringing us music as good as this. 

Flag It!

This is a satirical flag design which I guess will only make sense to residents of Northland in NZ and more specifically Whangarei. I will not explain it, but keep in mind I admire his work - when it  genuinely springs to life from his own hands.

At The Farmers Market In August

                                 Click photos to enlarge

Fibre Arts Exhibition Whangarei NZ

Click on photos to enlarge

Sandra Thompson - Fibre Artist

Ukulady At The Whangarei Growers Market

One of the delights of going to the Whangarei Grower Market on Saturday mornings are the buskers and listening to them joining the morning chorus as the sun rises.

Selling Us Short

I would strongly support the Hundertwasser Gallery if it was built from a genuinely original design by Hundertwasser and watched over by him during its construction (this view is also shared by many of my colleagues in the Arts) . It would then be a very special building and well worth the expense and effort because it would be amazingly good and pay for itself in many ways - by enriching our culture and its cost offset by ticket paying visitors. Alas, after Hundertwasser's death this cannot happen and the proposed building, in my opinion, is a well intentioned pale imitation that will fail - artistically and financially.

If it is going to be built by the new Whangarei District Council, then shifting the site to a gallery site recommended in the 20/20 planning proposals, commissioned by the WDC some time ago, would be a better decision in my view - i.e. further up the riverside as a stand alone structure in a park setting. This would enhance Hundertwasser's work in an a more aesthetic and ecological setting that is more in keeping with his ideas and works. We could then walk around and over it. It would also provide the opportunity to raise the structure and put a car park underneath (like Te Papa in Wellington). This would protect the gallery from flooding, which is a very real hazard in the Town Basin area. The extra revenue from parking fees would help pay for it too. 

Caught In The Act?

Larry Mitchell is campaigning to expose the creative accounting that Councils are using to hide the real extent of their debt. Apparently Councils are using their reserve and contingency funds as sources for internal borrowing and not openly declaring it with the total debt each year. Debt is debt and if what Larry says is true then it is time Councils came clean with with the real figures instead of funding projects and fudging the book-keeping to pay for them.

Democracy WDC Style

Mayor Cutforth has made some very odd comments about his council's refusal to provide Whangarei rate payers a chance to vote on the proposed Hundertwasser Art Museum. He seems to think he is in touch with the "Silent Majority" and this justifies his actions. The last time I heard that memorable phrase tumbling out the mouth of a public figure was in one of President Nixon's speeches. Not a good role model I would have thought because Nixon was later forced to to resign.

WDC Votes For Hundertwasser Art Museum

At a public meeting I attended, I heard WDC deputy mayor Phil Halse make a commitment to those assembled that the Council will not go ahead with the Hundertwasser Art Museum if they cannot find the additional funds above the $8 million the Council intends to borrow. This apparently, will be around $5 - 6 million and it will be interesting to see if the WDC begins the project, despite this commitment, under the guise of strengthening the old Regional Council building to meet new government requirements since the Christchurch earthquakes. Councilor Kahu Sutherland would no doubt like the project to keep going once this work begins and if Whangarei citizens remain silent, that is a very likely outcome in my opinion. Click on the cartoon to enlarge it.